Sound-reproducing instrument.



A. KHEUSLER.

SOUND REPHODUCING INSTRUMENT.

APvLlcmoN mio MN. la. 1919.

1,318,675. Patented 0cm-1,1919.

Flai l 5 a6 5 B7 +6 /la Inventor mold Y Krcualcr L ARNOLD KREUSLEB, 0F LDS GELES, CALIFORNIA.

SOUND-REPRODUCING INSTRUMENT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented ont.. i4, wia.

Application tiled January 18. 1919,. Serial No. 271,854.

fb N H'mm if muy concern.'

Be. it known that l, Aasono Kuausnna, a

vcitizen o'tl the l'nited States, residing at amplilier or resonator in such a manner that.v thc vibrations ot' the needle are transmitted directly to the sound amplllier or resonator;`

rather than being transmitted to a diaphragm which then aetsupon an air column which in turn transmits thc vibration vto a resonator ormamplilier, as is now usually the case. This peculiar feature. ot' my invention may bc embodied in many different. ways; but in a certain desirable specific embodiment ot' my invention l may and do utilize a violin as the sound simplifying or resonating element; and as a further 'feature of my invention in this specific embodiment of it, I make my arrangementsuch that', with a simple. att-acl'ulient to the, violin and an cxtremely simple.attaelnnentto an ordinary phonograph for theI purposes of carryingl tho'violin, I may enable` any person haring a phonograph to )lay a'wphonograph record `with my improved apparatus. In' its spccilic violin-embocIimont. l lind my invention peculiarly ada )ted tio the. reproduction of rooords made y stringedinstruments; and, generally, I lind that. my apparatus reproduces very clearly and distinctly and without. foreign vibrations all kinds of phonoj graph records; and l find a peculiar excel- [once in the reproduction of orchestral records, where my apparatus clearl y reproduces the. dill'orent instrumen-ts` very distinctly.

My invention will be, best understoml from the. following detailed deacri'ption of 'ai preferred emlxidiuient, `ot' it, reference for this purpose .boing had to the aeco|n' panying ,drawmgs m Which- Flgure I's an elevation showing thc'application of my apparatus to a common form 0f phonograph; Fig. 2 is a sectional cnlargcluent of a portion of Fig. l; ["ig. 3 is` a section taken as indicated by line on Fig. 2; Fig. L is a face. riowot' lny violin attaclnnent taken as indicated by line 4 4 on Fig. l; Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail section as indicated by liuc 5*.3 on Fig. 2 and Fig. is a detailed section taken as indicated by line t--G on Fig. 2.

In the drawings the muncral lt) designates tbc rotating,r record carrier of any ordinary phonograph and ll designates the usual base `board immediately below the record carrier; the numeral l2 designates the record on the record carrier. All the usual parts of such a phonograph are' lett unchanged by me; in fact., it is not neecsssary to remore the usual reprmlueing apparatus comprising the sound 'box and swinging sound arm, as my apparatus may be applied to any phono-4 graph without interfering with the, usual sound box. ete. The only attachment which I malte the phonograph itself is a suitable, support for the violin body. 1n actual prac` tice this support 4may embody a member 12 which is bifurcatcd and has two prongs -l2 at itsy u )per eml. these. two prongs being providell preferably with 4t'clt or other tips as shown at l": and the violin body 13 rests directly on these felt tips;'tl\c bifurcations I2 straddling the sti-ings 14 and the linger board .15. ln t'bisipecilie emlmdimcnt ot' my invention. itjisan object to transmit thc,

vibrations to thc body of the violin through y Y both the finger board l5 and the bridge lt'. ln order to accomplish this` and alsoto do so with the simplest form ot' attau-hmcntg l n'ovide 4an attachment which comprises a base 2t) which is eonlinedI between the tingetboard lo and the strings 1l. This base 2t) may be made 0 a suitable piece of wood and mayflnlre felt pads 2l on its under side to bcar against the lingcrlmard and other felt pads .)rover which the strings lie. 'lho tension ot the strings presses the base against the lingerboard and holds the base firmly in place. The :strings need not necessarily be tuned; th`ei|'.fnmtion here is topress the base qt' my attachment against the fingcrlamrd :md. as in ordinary violin practice` toconnect the ingerboard (at the oint ol' contact` with the strings. which in t lis call takes place through the base 20) with the bridge flt; so that to a certain extent all vibrations .made of some resilient material.

which are transmitted to the fingerboard are also transmitted to the bridge 16 through the strings 14. But. my attachment 4also transmits vibrations directly to the bridge 16. My attachment has a neck 21 preferably I find a thin strip of bamboo to be very useful for this purpose. This strip of bamboo may be glued to the forward end of base 20; and. the forward end of the neck `25 carries ahead 26 which carries a. socket 27 to Vhold the needle 28 at the correct an le to engage with the sound oves of the p onograph record 12. The suie and mass of this Vhead 26 has some bearing upon theeflicacy of reproduc-v tion; and I nd a head of about the size illustrated and made of hard wood to be very efiicient. The socket 27l is set in the head and'is made of metal. It has a needle receiving bore 29 and this bore has a slot 30 in one side not quite wide enough to pass the needle. The screw 31 to hold the needle enters the socket from the side opposite the slot il() and presses the needle against the two edges of the slot; so that the needle has a three-point bearing and is, thus held tightly and rigidly in place without any liability of displacement. Directly behindV the head 26 I provide a bearin r 32 on the neck 25, of rather hard felt, wliieli'rests directlyl upon the bridge 16. When the device is put into position upon the violin the neck 25 is resiliently stressed so as to resiliently press the bearing 32 against the bridge. In the' most common type of phonographandl phonograph record to- Which my attachment is'applica-ble, the vibrations in the record groove are transverse to the plane of the record and therefore the vibrations of needle 28 are horizontal. This kind of vibration sets up a vibration in the neck 25 which is Kcharmsterix/.ed by being torsional and generally in a direction parallel tothe face of the violin body rather than transverse of it. Such vibrations are very similar to'the vibrations of a violin String.` The bearing 32 Vis rather vnarrow atits `footing' upon-the bridge 16; so that the neck 25 is allowed to Vrock on the `bearingrl; but in doin so it of course transmits vibration-to the ridge 1G. The` vibrations transmitted by theneck 23 are carried to the base20 and are thence transmitted to the Afingerboard 15. Or, coni sidra-ing the base 20 as beingsolidly'mounted upon the fingerboard 15, these vibrationsare transmitted to the strings' 14, and the strings 14- then transmit them to the bridge 16, and thence the vibrations are transmitted to the violin body.

The total operation of my attachment is seen to be such' that the vibrations are transmitted to the violin body or sound box in very much the same manner as they are transmitted'from violin strings to the sound box when the violin strings are bowed in the 'projecting downwardly ordinary manner. As a consequence of all this, nlthou h I find my arrangement a peculiarly' e. cient one in the reproduction of allykinds of phonograph records, yet I y rind it to he most pleasingly eiiicient in re-A producing the records ofn stringed instruments, and particularly of the violin itself. In fact, with my arrangement a record may be reprmlnced with the self saine instrument from `which it was originally made. The part 26 is a small balance'l".regulator weight of felt, which `I find improfves the general reproduction qualities.

The violin body may be merely laid in place upon the supports 12b, the weight of 8p the body lloldingit in place, and the point of support being near the neck of the violin so that there is a small unbalanced portion of the violin' weight which holds the needle 28 in engagement with the phonouraph 35 record grooves. 1n actual. practice I o not find it necessary to utilize any means for positively holding the violin from displacement; but in some cases, to prevent the drag on the phonograph needle from dragging 9o the violin to the left in Fig. 2,` a stop such as illustrated at 40 may be mounted upon the base 20 and engage with the support member 1.2 to prevent such motion. Stop 40 is merely a rod 'or pin set inmember 22 and 95 therefrom far enough 'tobear with its end, againstthe stationary support 12: This stop leaves the violin ,free to turn ina horizontal plane, but

koe s'it from moving tothe left; 1n Figs. 1 100.

n `2.V The mountingV of theyiglin does not at all interfere with its movement which allows the needle 28 to fbllw. the p'hon'ofgraph record; the violin 'gradually turning4 1n position as the needle moves inwardly to- 105 ward the center ofthe record.

As a consequence of the sim licity and applicability of my invention, w, ienever a person desires'to use it on `a phonograph, 1t is only I ieoessaryto` insert the needle properly and thenu place the violininpostion as illustrated.V `In placingthe violinthe stop 40 maybe of' use in 'putting it in about the rightpostion, so as to put just about the right amount of weight on the phonograph needle, and to get the needle in the proper relative position on the record; The record having beenv started in rotation, Athe needle is put into the beginningend ofthe groove, and the reproductions-lieues.

- While I have. describeda specific embodiment of my invention with some particularity and detal,=.I do not thereby intend to limit my invention to this specific form of apparatus. Other Specific forms of my invention will be readily apparent to lthose skilled in the art; and I do not delimt my j invention from such other forms as it may take, except as is lspecifically stated in the follovvinrr claims.

Having described a preferred form of my invention, I claim:

1. As a. honographic .connection for u violin or li e instrument, a needle holding member havingva fiat foot aida ted to rest upon the fin erboard and to e confined between the ngerboard and the Strings of the instrument by the tension of the strings.

2. AS a bonographic attchment for n violin or li e instrument, a needle holding member having u flat foot adepted to rest upon the fingerboard und' be confined betyveen the fingerboard and the strings of the instrument by the tension of the strings, and having a bearing foot resting upon the bridge of the instrument. i

3. As a phonographie attachment for a violin or like instrument, the combination of a Hetl buse adapted to rest upon the fingerboard and be confined between the fingerboard and the strings of the instrument by the tension of the strings, a fiexible neck connected with the base and having at its end e foot adapted to rest upon the bridge of the instrument, and having at Suid end ahead adapted to carry a phonograph needle.

4. As a phonographc attachment for e, violin or like instrument, the combination of a base adapted to be confined between the fingerboard and the strings of theinstrument, a flexible neck connected with the base and having at its end a foot adapted to rest upon the bridge of the instrument, and having at seid end a head adapted to curry a.

phonograph needle, said neck bein resiliently stressed when the device is p aced in 'the described position upon the instrument so as to resiliently press the foot against the bridge.

5. As a phonogruphie attachment for e' violin or like instrument, a needle holding- YAmember havlng at one end' a flat base.

In witness that I claim the foregoing Iv have hereunto subscribed my name this 13 day of January 1919.

ARNOLD KREUSLER. Witness:

VIRGINIA BERINGER. 

